What We Want & What We Think We Want

That summer was going to be pack with big-name movies, so the theaters were being picky. 20^th Century Fox had a movie they thought might make some money but only 40 theaters wanted it. What the rest of them wanted was “The Other Side of Midnight”, a steamy adult-themed adaptation of a bestselling book by the same name. The other movie was just a hero adventure of good vs evil that theaters felt was too sappy for modern audiences.

So 20^th Century Fox played dirty. They told the theaters that the only way they could get “The Other Side of Midnight” is if they would also show the other movie they were promoting. This was illegal and would get them fined 25,000 dollars, but they didn’t seem to mind.

It not because “The Other Side of Midnight” did so well, but because the other movie did. While “The Other Side of Midnight” made a modest 24 million, the other movie “Star Wars” made 775 Million!

It‘s not just theaters that don’t always know what is best for them, people do it all the time. What we think will make us happy in the end brings us misery. The steamy dive into the passing pleasure of sin leads us not to fulfillment but disillusionment. The story is as old as time. See Solomon empty pursuits in Ecclesiastes or the prodigal son trip in the far land. What we chase after might not be the thing that is going to bring us the best return.

Don’t make the mistake of falling for the other side of the road. What we think we want maybe a crumbling illusion but what we want is to have an eternal promise of good.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them";

Ecclesiastes 12:1

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